CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 2 April 1927, Page 10

CRICKET

BLUNT’S UNIQUE RECORD. TEAM FARE WELLED. The outstanding feature of the two tests played by me, iNew Zealand team has been the remarkable scoring by several of the members, culminating in the unique .record achieved by Blunt in scoring three successive centuries in test cricket, two m one match. To Blunt, Dempster and .Daere nave fallen the honour of making great scores, and to Merritt, the youngest of the team, is accorded most distinction in bowling. T'iie team put up a record score in the hist test, and therefore all are entitled to congratulations. An important point to recall is that the completion of the, second test marked not only the completion of the tour of the visitors from Me,bourne — headed by the great captain, Warwick Armstrong, and including one of the greatest Australian players of years ago, and managed by another, Hugh Trumble —but saw the departure of tho New Zealand team on its tour, actually the most important epoch in the history of Dominion cricket, which, it is confideutlv iioped, will form a basis for great piogress and development m the year® that lie ahead. If the best results accrue from the tour, the members of the, team, when they have had the, wonderful advantage of play against the leading cricketers of the Old Country arid return to this country, will, as they disperse to their own centres, carry to their fellow players the knowledge and experience they have gained during their travels. So will the best object® of the promoters of the tour be attained, and the value to the great game he fully secured. Everyone who takes an interest in sport of the best kind will join in a heartv wish of good - luck: a.reel one united Kia Ora to the young players to whom is entrusted the honour not only of the game, but of the Dominion', on the field and among the people of the Mother Country. Warwick Armstrong, sent them off with a very optimistic note. He said: “I am quite sure you are going to do well, especially after the first month. I think you will win nearly three-quar-ters of your matches, what’s more, you will draw big crowds. You will have the advantage of playing on wickets very similar to your own, and will certainly not meet many better '• owlers Qian Ebeiling. In fact, English bowling is very mediocre. You will have nothing to fear from Tate, who i® only a moderate bowler in England.” Mr Armstrong related thei system he adopted with; the 1921 Australian side, who met with such wonderful success at Home. He told the New Zealanders that they would have to drop any interprovincial spirit that might prevail and work together. They were taking on a hard job. If any man got hold of the idea that he was not getting a fair deal, the correct thing for him to do was to have; it out with the management and bei done with it. They would do no good if they did not pull together. A player who- was not doing wed should not get his tail down. The speaker recalled that for three weeks on end he may not have made more than twenty runs, but in the next three weeks lie probably scored five or six hundred runs. Every man. would come; right sooner or Tater on such a long tour of forty matches.

SOUTH, v. COUNTRY. The annual match with the North Taranaki Country team, which was played at Brixton, was a most enjoyable one. The cricket was not of a very high standard, the light being bad for the greater part of the day, and the wicket, although it played fairly wed. was very dead, and the ball kept low, it being impossible to force the pace. The Country team did not appear very strong in batting, and with the exception of- Sarten. who batted well for 23. and Gibson, who was run out, they made no stand. South’s score' of 118 with a slow outfield, was quite good after a bad start. Cole, after a let-off before he scored, played a very sound innings for 32, including a, fine sixer. Wilson was very aggressive, and made some line shots iu bi« tally of 24. Williams (16) and Jennings (12) both looked like making more. the. latter, unfortunately, being run out. In the second knock. Court (12), Lny (retired. 26), and Penny (14) made, useful scores. Although a howler’s wicket, it did not suit Cole, being too slow. Penny, however, was getting a lot of work in, and got the good figures of five for one and two for five. Thomas also bowled steadily, anfi got two for 14. The Country bonders kept a fairly good length throughout. although their bowling was not difficult at any time, Bishop. Gilmour and Gibson dividing the honours. For South. Atkins kept wicket remarkable well.

THE NEW BALL. It is satisfactory to learn that British manufacturers of cricket balls are very busy just now. They are, getting ready the new small bai'l of 8 13-16 inches, which is going to play an important part in the history of the Empire. That small ball with a difference of 3-10ths of an inch may have farreaching eon seq uences. Elderly men 50 years lienee will probably become very testy on the point whether Australia would have regained or lost again the ashes in 1928 had the, ball been nine inches instead of 8 13-16. And there will still be: those who will stubbornly contend that a 9 1-16 ball would have made all the difference—would, in fact, have changed history. The main point of consideration with the batsman will, however, .still continue to lie. not the actual .size of the ball it leaves the bowlers’ hand, but how it looks to him as it comes down thei pitch. If it looks as “big as a football” there can be nothing wrong with the ball, no matter what its official measurement. The bowler lias also his own particular viewpoint. Xf he had his wav lie would have a variable, versatile sort of ball. But as he. cannot get exactly what he wants he would bo quite content with a ball of any size so long as it made good figures on the scoring board and in the scoring book. But we are great .reformers, we British, and we must experiment, even if it be in. the 3-lGth part of an inch in the circumference of a cricket hall. 11EMARKABLE SCORE. A correspondent supplies the following cricket reminiscence to tho “Sydney Dai'v Telegraph”:—“ln the summer of 1888, T was paying for Dover Garrison (England) against Barnes, a London club. It was before the days of declaring, and wo compiled 550 runs without anybody making a- century. The first wicket fell at 170: I contributed 89- there were two 87’s, a 75, and a 50. Every body else made double figures, ex cent the not-out man, who seemed to think that his “duck” was a 1 reflection upon his hatting ability.”